An island paradise

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I can't remember where i left the blog last time, but I'm now on Koh Tao. An island little more than 21 Km Sq. Koh Tao means 'Turtle Island' as in the past the waters were rich with turtles.
Over the last 10 years turtles islands beauty, marine life and coral life spread over the world and the number of 'paradise' seekers increased dramatically. It is now one of Thailand's major dive sites. Sairee Beach where I'm staying has white sand and blue water that stretches 1.7km over the west coast.


I spent the first day meeting the dive master, Jeff and my trainer, Cedric (both French) and completing paperwork. I checked into one of the new bungalows, of wooden construction, balcony, bathroom (cold water) and fan.

The next day I started the PADI dive course and in day 1, we watched videos, took quizzes and generally discussed what was going to happen.

Day 2 happened in a similar way but in the afternoon we learnt how to set up the equipment and how to wash & put it away and then put our gear on and spent the afternoon in the pool. For me it was a difficult concept to grasp, kind of like learning to drive, you have to remember so much and the course is only 4 days, so pretty rushed. You breathe through the regulator with just your mouth. Although your nose is enclosed in a mask, if you do use your nose at all your mask will fill with water and then you'll take it in through your nose. Then you have to breathe slowly and deeply. Once I'd grasped this we then have to perform a number of tasks, like removing and replacing your regular underwater, removing and relaxing your mask underwater ( this was the most difficult for me) learning to equalise (getting air to your sinuses/ears etc) learning what to do if you're out of air.... It was a long and tiring but fun day. Yesterday, we did some classroom time in the morning, learning about problems that can arise from diving like decompression sickness, lung problems etc and then at noon we took the boat out to go diving in the sea. You jump off the boat all geared up and then we swam a little underwater, I saw some beautiful tropical fish and coral! It's a whole new world underwater. The most difficult bit was going over the tasks in the sea. I struggled with this. My eyes filled with salt water, I couldn't replace the mask, then I started to breathe with my nose.....More practice needed I think. :-) I had Mexican for tea, a welcomed change from pad Thai. (Pad Thai: Thai stir fried veg noodles and meat/fish


The weather here has been lovely, clear hot days and warm nights. The subsets on the island have been amazing, Koh Tao really is a piece of paradise, who'd have thought that Thailand could be so beautiful. I have been eaten alive here by red ants and Mosquitos but have had to make do with cortisone cream for the itching as you can't take medication when diving, so no antibiotics or antihistamines. Anyway, I'm loving my time on Koh Tao, it's been nice to see the 'other' side of Thailand. I think people should think twice about beach resorts in Europe and get over to Thailand!! I will post more when I leave Koh Tao, as I've not had much time to post here.

I can't believe it's almost November. Im sure in the Uk the shops are becoming crazy now for Christmas, although you don't see any sign of that here. It feels like July, every month, the weather's been either hot, humid, dry, sticky....anything but cold!

Love to all xxx

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